Transgender

Last week President Obama came out of the closet against 'conversion therapy' in a statement supporting "Leelah's Law". The law is the product of a White House petition started to "ban the practice known as ‘conversion therapy’ and name the bill in honor of Leelah Alcorn."

You may not remember "Leelah Alcorn". Joshua Alcorn was the teenager who identified himself as a girl (calling himself "Leelah"). Raised in a "conservative Christian household", he told his parents at the age of 14 that he was a girl and was denied the request to undergo transition. His parents sent him to "conversion therapy" in order to try to "fix" him. Instead, he stepped onto a busy highway and died. His suicide note ended with "My death needs to mean something ... Fix society. Please." The "fix" is to ban "conversion therapy", to normalize abnormality, and to put an end to anyone who thinks otherwise ... by force of law.

I am not writing this in support of "conversion therapy". As I've said before, I don't believe Christianity is about converting homosexuals to heterosexuals. It's not about moral health or mental health. It's about making dead people into living people. And Christianity isn't about being moral. That's a product, not an aim. And it is only accomplished by "God who is at work in you both to will and to do His good pleasure", so trying to make bad people into good people before coming to Christ is not part of the scheme.

I'm writing this because I'm wondering if genuine, Bible-believing Christians have thought this through. We are being told--mandated--to drop our beliefs in the sanctity of marriage, in the morality of sex within marriage, and now in our argument that transgender is wrong. Are you ready for this? Are churches ready for this? Here's what I'm asking. Have you thought this through?

Here, let me give you some things to examine. There are, for instance, those who argue, "Transgender is a sin." Why? What is your Scriptural basis? Figure that out^[1]. There are those who say, "God doesn't make mistakes." So what does that mean? Based on that perspective, it's wrong to change genders (no one can change sexes^[2]), but is it not, then, just as wrong to change hair color or other physical conditions? (Note: I'm not saying it is or isn't. I'm asking you to think it through.) There are those who argue that "we need to make our churches places where transgender people feel comfortable being among us." Based on what? Should we? This whole "transgender" thing hangs on other issues as well. Are the genders "equal", or are they simply "of equal value"? One answer gives you egalitarianism in which there is no distinction in genders and the other gives you complementarianism where the differences in genders complement (not compliment) each other. If you're of the opinion that there is no distinction in genders, then you have very little to stand on regarding the transgender issue (and, in fact, you'll likely see it as a non-issue). It comes down to a whole "Are men men and are women women, or are there important, God-given distinctions?" and "What are they?" and, more importantly, why do you say so?

Biblical Christianity has been steamrolled on the whole "homosexual" to "gay marriage" thing. Transgender is simply the next big thing. And if you haven't thought it through, you'll likely get overrun ... again. We don't want to be left standing around saying "Ew, that's nasty" without any substantive reasons, biblical or otherwise. I'm not suggesting it will make a difference. I'm just saying that you need to be ready. Our churches need to be ready. The wave is upon us.
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^[1] Scripture for consideration:
The problem of the human heart: Jer 17:9; Rom 1:21,28; Rom 12:2
The question of gender: Gen 1:27;Deut 22:5; Psa 139:13-16; Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 14:40

^[2] Remember, "sex" refers to the physical conditions--"XX" or "XY" chromosomes, bone structure, and other physical distinctives between man and woman--and "gender" refers to "masculine" and "feminine"--those traits and characteristics associated with male and female.